Abstract
Objectives: To assess the characteristics and risk factors for mortality in patients with severe coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) treated with tocilizumab (TCZ), alone or in combination with corticosteroids (CS).
Methods: From March 17 to April 7, 2020, a real-world observational retrospective analysis of consecutive hospitalized adult patients receiving TCZ to treat severe COVID-19 was conducted at our 750-bed university hospital. The main outcome was all-cause in-hospital mortality.
Results: A total of 1,092 patients with COVID-19 were admitted during the study period. Of them, 186 (17%) were treated with TCZ, of which 129 (87.8%) in combination with CS. Of the total 186 patients, 155 (83.3 %) patients were receiving noninvasive ventilation when TCZ was initiated. Mean time from symptoms onset and hospital admission to TCZ use was 12 (±4.3) and 4.3 days (±3.4), respectively. Overall, 147 (79%) survived and 39 (21%) died. By multivariate analysis, mortality was associated with older age (HR = 1.09, p < 0.001), chronic heart failure (HR = 4.4, p = 0.003), and chronic liver disease (HR = 4.69, p = 0.004). The use of CS, in combination with TCZ, was identified as a protective factor against mortality (HR = 0.26, p < 0.001) in such severe COVID-19 patients receiving TCZ. No serious superinfections were observed after a 30-day follow-up.
Conclusions: In patients with severe COVID-19 receiving TCZ due to systemic host-immune inflammatory response syndrome, the use of CS in addition to TCZ therapy, showed a beneficial effect in preventing in-hospital mortality.
Keywords: COVID-19; Corticosteroids; Mortality; Systemic inflammation; Tocilizumab.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Corticosteroids, Mortality, Tocilizumab, systemic inflammation, 【초록키워드】 Corticosteroid, coronavirus, therapy, Hospitalized, severe COVID-19, Tocilizumab, Noninvasive ventilation, outcome, risk factor, Characteristics, Patient, Older age, Retrospective analysis, Hospital admission, Follow-up, patients, in-hospital mortality, Combination, Inflammatory response, Analysis, chronic liver disease, systemic, university hospital, study period, syndrome, protective factor, symptoms onset, treat, chronic heart failure, died, addition, conducted, receiving, treated, initiated, survived, patients with COVID-19, severe COVID-19 patient, TCZ, 【제목키워드】 Corticosteroid, Corticosteroids, Tocilizumab, Patient, treat, severe COVID-19 illness, receiving,